In Search Of The World’s Most Beautiful Tune
By Robert Walton

It might sound like an impossible task to find the world’s most beautiful tune but with so much current research going on in other walks of life, we may as well add “music” to the list and see what we come up with. The question is where do you begin such a mammoth undertaking? And what are your judgments based on?

I don’t quite know why I first thought of waltzes when faced with this huge assignment, but because they are tighter than the common or garden 4 in bar, the tune is more immediate. Waltzes are far more attractive and adaptable, and though perhaps more famous in a dance context, they frequently turn up in larger works like symphonies. Tchaikovsky came to my mind immediately with his gloriously natural Waltz of the Flowers, which oozes effortlessly out of its elegantly spontaneous-sounding origins. This is totally unlike the compositions of Johann Strauss II, which were written for special requirements on the dance floor but later immortalized for seated audiences in orchestral arrangements.

Musicians outside Bath’s Pump Room with their pre-recorded accompaniments play many of the greatest tunes. One, which is performed regularly, is the beautiful melody Meditation from Massenet’s Thais which surely must be fairly high up the “Immortal Tune” hit parade. Other melodies which move, are Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Saint-Saens’ The Swan. Of course you can’t produce a list like this without having a Puccini. One Fine Day from Madame Butterfly is a classic, which turned harmony upside down.

Vaughan Williams’ haunting Fantasia on a Theme by Tallis well deserves a place in such company. Imagine being in the congregation of Wells Cathedral hearing the hushed Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. It’s strange but most well known composers don’t seem to produce hits. Williams’ The Lark Ascending was also a big favourite but it was the rhythmic section I first heard used as the theme for a documentary on the Pilgrim’s Way. Often it’s the orchestration that appeals. For instance Beethoven’s Ode to Joy leaves me cold compared with the end of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony featuring a choir which has to wait patiently for their big moment. Most music, which really moves, is from unlikely sources. As a toddler my mother used to play the opening of Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude while I did a carpet crawl away from the sound of “thunder”. Rachmaninov’s gorgeous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is in a class of its own.

In popular music one of its most memorable melodies of the 20th century just has to be David Raksin’s Laura and Rose’s masterly middle section of Holiday for Strings.

On the swing front there’s one tune from the entire Ted Heath library which has been a constant bug bee in my bonnet - Dave Bee’s Obsession. Back in the 1940s the Melachrino Strings recorded a series of short classics often featuring the lower strings, the most outstanding of which was Benjamin Godard’s haunting Berceuse from “Jocelyn”.

And moving on to modern light orchestral music, I passionately believe Robert Farnon’s Melody Fair deserves a special place in the whole universe of music. Tony Bennett’s ex-manager Tony Tamburello, rated this two and a half minute miracle as immortal. I couldn’t agree more!

My current personal favourite is Hubert Parry’s spine-tingling Jerusalem (I can’t get enough of it!) Strange but I never heard Jerusalem until I was in my teens. What a pleasant shock! It was a world away from Elgar’s Land of Hope and Glory although the beautiful Nimrod is full of hope.

But pop pickers, still at number one after all these years is Londonderry Air (Danny Boy) composed by an unknown Irish street musician.